Posted on: 9 February 2022
I’m always proud to say that I live in West Yorkshire and work in the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership. I’m the Associate Director for Long Term Conditions and Personalisation and have the privilege of convening the Race Equality Network.
However, that is just the day job! I am a proud British Asian Muslim woman who, quite often in my journey into leadership, felt like I didn’t belong. There weren’t many leaders who looked like me, sounded like me or even dressed like me. That was before I entered the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership.
Advocating for race equality as an Asian woman comes with professional and personal risk but working in this system has made me feel safe enough to speak truth to power and empowered to lead some of the solutions as an equal. The commitment of our senior leaders, the emphasis they place on this agenda, and the license provided through our model of distributed leadership has enabled me to blossom and fulfil my potential. I am one of many examples, with several of our incredible Race Equality Network members doing the same. With strong leadership and allyship, we have enabled our members to grow and thrive in new spaces and continue to do this.
We have tackled complex issues head on by having uncomfortable conversations, co-producing solutions and giving power to people to lead the change we want to see. Collectively and collaboratively, we have travelled a good distance and started to shift the dial on race equality – you only have to look at the Connected on Inclusion week to see this. We demonstrated our continued commitment, set the precedent for what is to come, and the Awards showed the momentum and impact of our work that is being led by our people.
It feels like we have come so far and yet as the recent British Medica Association survey has shown, we have so much to do. You can read our Partnership's response here. However, we remain aspirational – we want to and will do more. We are on the road to getting this right for our people.
This Race Equality Week, and every week, I am proud to work in West Yorkshire for the progress we have made and the ambition that we retain.